Scenes of the Crime started out fairly slow for me, but I was curious about it from the blurb, so I kept on reading. I think this was because there are five friends and the author takes a while to introduce each of them, but it is necessary to the building mystery. About fifty percent in, it finally grabbed my attention and I couldn’t put it down. The story is mixed with scenes from the movie the main character is writing, adding intrigue and suspense. I’m still not sure which version was the actual truth, but that’s what a great, unreliable narrator does for you. And a shocking twist ends the book leaving you wondering.

This was my second of Gagnon’s, and I really enjoyed this more than the first, although it was a little slow in the beginning and took a minute to pick up speed. It was interesting with the screenwriting element worked in, and I really enjoyed it. I always love a toxic friendship plot, and this one was no different. Secrets long held for years come to a head when these friends reunite at the scene of the crime for a weekend, minus the one that vanished without a trace back then, and one is trying to get to the bottom of what really happened years ago. It doesn’t go as planned of course and I thought this was an entertaining thriller that I enjoyed overall. The audio was great and I loved listening to this one, definitely recommend it.

Thank you to Berkley and PRH Audio for the copies to review.

Scenes of the Crime is a mystery novel with a promising premise. Emily Fischer, a screenwriter, returns to her hometown to investigate the disappearance of her friend Vanessa Morales, who vanished ten years ago. Emily soon discovers that Vanessa was involved in a complicated web of secrets and lies, and that her disappearance is connected to a series of unsolved murders.

The novel has some strengths. Gagnon writes well, and she creates a sense of suspense and dread throughout the story. The characters are also well-developed, and Emily is a likable and relatable protagonist.

However, the novel also has some flaws. The plot is convoluted and confusing, and there are too many twists and turns. The pacing is also uneven, and the novel drags in some places. Additionally, the ending is unsatisfying and leaves many unanswered questions.

Overall, Scenes of the Crime is an average mystery novel. It has some strengths, but it is also flawed. I would recommend it to readers who are looking for a quick and suspenseful read, but I would not recommend it to readers who are looking for a well-crafted and satisfying mystery.

Jilly Gagnon won me over with her unique but fun Clue-style novel All Dressed Up, so I was really excited to get started on Scenes of the Crime. This also had a unique setup, with past and present viewpoints as well as sections of the screenplay that Emily is writing. The theme of friendship is strong as the story involves 5 female friends, but keep in mind that these are toxic ones, and no one is all that likable. I sometimes thrive on unlikable characters, and I definitely did in this case. I did end up getting a little confused at times about what actually happened versus what Emily was making up, so I highly recommend making sure you pay attention.

I did enjoy the audiobook as well, and I thought the narrator Eileen Stevens did a great job. Her pacing was a bit on the slower side, so I sped it up to around 3x speed and that was just about perfect. The pace of the book is steady but also a bit slow, and I think listening to the audio was helpful in keeping me engaged. The remote winery was the perfect setting for Scenes of the Crime and I thought Gagnon did a fantastic job of bringing the location to life without getting too overzealous with the descriptions. The wine is flowing and the secrets are spilling, and I was there for all of the drama.

I was looking forward to Scenes of the Crime as I had enjoyed another Jilly Gagnon novel. This one, however, didn't really work for me. I found the beginning dragged to the extent that I really couldn't arouse much interest. The screenplay scenes were confusing in that I was unsure as to whether this was imagination or reality--a screenplay being written or flashbacks to what had actually occurred. The writing was good; I just wish I had been more invested in it.

Many thanks to the publisher for a copy.

I’m pretty baffled as to how this book has such a low average rating. Fast-paced with an intriguing mystery, it was better than a lot of the mysteries I’ve read recently, particularly the more popular ones. Each of the characters the book focuses on were pretty shitty people, even the MC Emily, who is the self-described peace keeper of the group of friends. What I found delightful about Emily is that, despite her Midwestern mannerisms and fear of conflict, she had some majorly callous inner dialogues throughout the book — not to mention the fact that she really only brought her friends back to the winery that was the scene of the crime 15 years prior so she could iron out the screenplay she was writing based on her friend’s disappearance! I’ve seen some reviews state confusion regarding whether the excerpts from her screenplay, revealed between most chapters of the book, were true or not, but I personally didn’t have a problem with that. Overall the mystery wasn’t the most creative, but it had enough originality as a whole that I ended up having a great time reading it.

DNF at 40%

Unfortunately, I couldn't finish this book. I was extremely bored throughout the 40% that I read and just didn't find anything pulling me back in.

1.5 stars.

So this book was super predictable and formulaic which definitely affected my rating of this book. you get the story of what happened in the past through one of the main character's screenplay.

The way that the characters are described kind of reminds me of the Breakfast Club. However, you don't learn anything else about the characters through the book. All of them know something about the night that the others don't and then we find out the truth and it was just not an enjoyable read.

I ended up kind of rage-reading the book because I was just frustrated and bored with it.

Thanks to Netgalley and Bantam for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I really thought I would love this one, but Scenes of the Crime failed to capture my attention. It didn't help that I personally didn't like any of the characters and I just didn't feel compelled to care about what was going to happen or that the chapters felt incredibly long.

This book was extremely frustrating. Normally, I love when a story is told from alternating timelines (past & present), but this time the past was told in the form of a screenplay so you never knew if that was the truth or not. The twists & turns were not interesting enough to make it a worthwhile read.

I kept pushing this book to the bottom of the pile because the reviews were not great but I finally decided to suck it up and read it. Probably should've just skipped it altogether. I did not like it at all. The beginning moved pretty quickly but then it dragged on and on and made me want to just skim. None of the characters are likeable. Everything is a serious stretch (how could so many people literally forget murdering someone? Or believing that you did?). The ending was terrible. A knife, then a gun, then a bunch of confusing fighting. It kept reminding me of a Scooby Doo episode: "And I would've gotten away with it too, if not for those pesky kids!"

A wrote down this line because it made my eyes roll so much: "I believed I had finally found someone who cared about me. Not just my vagina, me."

The last sentence of the book (prior to the epilogue although that last sentence was pretty bad too) was almost as cringey.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Ballantine for the eARC.

The premise of this one had me hooked, but unfortunately the book fell flat for me. It did not hold my interest and I did not really love the way it unfolded.

Fifteen years ago, five college friends (or should we say frenemies) gathered at a remote Oregon Coast winery for spring break. When one of the friends goes missing, the remaining friends all have their own secrets. Secrets that have remained hidden. When Emily spots someone that looks like Vanessa in an LA coffee shop, she immediately sets up a plan to reunite at the winery in hopes of finding out what really happened that night. Emily has interior motives though, as a screenwriter she’s hoping to write (and sell) Vanessa’s story. Arriving at the winery, creepy things start to happen, how could they not with hidden caves under the house, a cliff and a rickety old stair case leading down to the beach? As secrets emerge, Emily writes her script, a script that’s interspersed with the present (a unique approach, but not riveting). Going back and forth in time, we slowly find out what happened to Vanessa on that fateful night … or do we? This book was a story about toxic relationships and with underdeveloped characters that were mostly unlikeable, this one didn’t hold my interest the way it could have. Thank you to Bantam and NetGalley for an ARC of this book.

I was not a huge fan of this book. Not invested in the unlikable characters an wasn't 'rooting' for any specific character at the end. I will say the thriller genre is quite competitive in that the reader is always expecting a big twist and this one just fell flat for me.

Scenes of the Crime
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Author: Jilly Gagnon

I requested a digital advanced readers copy from NetGalley and Random House Publishing and providing my opinion voluntarily and unbiased.

Synopsis: An ambitious screenwriter tries to solve her friend's disappearance by recreating their fateful final girls’ trip in this riveting locked-room mystery from the author of All Dressed Up.
A remote winery. A missing friend. And a bunch of sour grapes.

It should have been the perfect spring break. Five girlfriends. A remote winery on the Oregon coast. An infinite supply of delicious wine at their manicured fingertips. But then their center—beautiful, magnetic Vanessa Morales—vanished without a trace.

Emily Fischer was perhaps the last person to see her alive. But now, years later, Emily spots Vanessa’s doppelganger at a local café. At the end of her rope working a lucrative yet mind-numbing gig on a network sitcom, Emily is inspired to finally tell the story that’s been percolating inside her for so long: Vanessa’s story. But first, she needs to know what really happened on that fateful night. So she puts a brilliant scheme into motion.

She gets the girls together for a reunion weekend at the scene of the crime under the guise of reconnecting. There's Brittany, Vanessa’s cousin and the inheritor of the winery; Paige, a former athlete, bullish yet easily manipulated; and Lydia, the wallflower of the group.

One of them knows the truth. But what have they each been hiding? And how much can Emily trust anything she learns from them… or even her own memories of Vanessa’s last days?

My Thoughts: Over a decade ago, a friend disappeared from the toxic friend group without a trace. Emily is now a screenwriter and wants to not only tell the story but find out what happened with Vanessa. She sets up a girls reunion weekend at the same winery under the facade of reconnecting. Someone knows the truth and everyone has secrets. Will the secrets be their demise? Or will Vanessa finally get justice?

I was really intrigued by the cover and blurb, the premise was so enticing but it fell a little flat for me. I really struggled with this one but I do not like to DNF books, if publishers are gracious enough to allow me to read early, the least I can do is provide a review. While I know this review is late, I had two surgeries this year and trying to get caught up. Sometimes, it was hard to tell what really happened and what was being written for the screenplay. A better distinction of chapters would have made it more clear. This is a slow burn thriller. The book does start to heat up at around 50% when the secrets begin to escape, with the true excitement occurring at about 75% in. The story is narrated in a dual timeline between then and now. Emily is a screenwriter whom is unfullfilled; Brittany is stay-at-home mother, an heiress, and is very entitled; Paige is was an athlete in her younger years and follows Brittany like a puppy would; and Lydia had a hard life and felt like an outcast in the group. The story is narrated by Emily, who was unreliable, unrelateable, and even unlikable. Actually, most of the characters were toxic, unrelateable, and not very likable. The toxicity and drama between the friend group is over the top, even for me.

Overall, it was a good read that I enjoyed. I would recommend to other readers.

Unfortunately, the format of this book, and maybe just because it was an early draft made it really difficult to read. The script like writing did not make me engaged at all. I was not invested in learning the outcome, and I found the romance trope a bit overdone. While it was an interesting idea to leave the script into the book it just really didn’t work for this reader. I was also took a while for the plot to come together in a way that at least motivated me to finish the book.

Perfect summer beach read
Really liked the format of the screenplay throughout
College tragedy. Mean girls. 15 years later.
Quick paced, mindless enjoyment

This book has an interesting twist to the story line. The MC, Emily, is a screen writer. 15 years ago, she and 4 friends vacationed at a winery on the Oregon Coast, where one friend disappeared. Current day, Emily sees a woman in her local coffee shop who looks just like her missing friend. In her aha moment, she decides she could work the story into a script. BUT, it would be alot better if she could close the story with a reveal. What happened to Vanessa 15 yrs ago. So, she sets up a "reunion" of the 4 remaining friends at the same winery as before and......well, this is where you have to read the book. Jilly Gagnon switches the story between Emily's script and the reunion so it's played out in reality and in drama. Definitely different treatment of a missing person story line.

Such a fun mystery thriller book. I really enjoyed it. The five women all soo different and unique. The book did not disappoint. The author did a wonderful job describing the beautiful setting at the winery. Yes, it is a toxic friend group that you would want to avoid, but it keeps yo entertained!!
The twists were incredibly clever, the friendships dark and complex, and the narrator's voice intimate and witty. Great for a glass of wine and a book club discussion!

A mean girl reunion to remember the loss of one of their ringleaders sets the stage for this psychological thriller. Emily, a mediocre writer of a fading series, longs to write the story that will propel her into success. She thinks a story based roughly on the mysterious disappearance of Vanessa, one of the two leaders of the group, might be the one that she can write, but she needs to understand what even happened, Getting in touch with the estranged friends seems too easy and they gather at Brittany’s homestead which is a winery. It has a spooky factor but the relationships are awkward and unfriendly from the beginning. It makes you wonder why they even agreed to gather in the first place. Allegiances are revealed and secrets uncovered. The story is interesting despite the characters lack of connection. It held my interest and was wondering where it would go. I enjoyed it - sometimes infuriating characters can be very engaging.